The Arab Spring and the revelation that corruption is a crime against humanity

Autor: Kichere Mwita

Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 10/04/2011

 

International peace and security is in dilemma. Those
in power are now shaking from the revolutionary movements occurring in the Arab
world, and continuing to spread. These movements are aimed at a more even
distribution of national wealth, as well as liberty and justice for the current
generation. This is what has been happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.
The movements started at the end of 2010. No one knows when or where it may end. It is
a matter of time.

According to Dr. Amr Abdallah[1], Professor
and Vice Rector at the University for Peace, “the factors leading to these
revolutions are numerous. They require a careful review of historical events
that shaped the region for the last century, international relations which
influenced the affairs of the Arab World in the last two decades, especially
the war on terror and the spread of radical militants Islamic groups, and the
dynamics of new media and its influence on frustrated youth with collapsed
hopes for upward mobility.’’

This article focuses solely on the issue of corruption
in relation to these movements, and calls on the international community to
take serious and stern measures on prosecuting corruption as a serious crime
against humanity, with specific reference to the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court, as well as the African Union and The United Nations
Conventions against corruption.  

Definition

For the purpose of this
discussion, “corruption” is understood as “any course of action or failure to
act by individuals or organizations, public or private, in violation of law or
trust for profit or gain.’’[2]
According to World Bank figures, the total amount of annual bribes can be
conservatively estimated at US $1 trillion.[3]
The cost of corruption in Africa alone is estimated at more than US$ 148
billion a year – this is thought to represent 25% of Africa’s GDP and to
increase the cost of goods by as much as 20 percent.[4]

The UN and the African Union Conventions
on corruption

The preamble of the UN and the African Union
conventions oblige member states to take measures to prevent and combat
corruption in their countries. For the UN:

The States Parties to
this Convention, concerned about the seriousness of problems and threats posed
by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the
institutions and values of democracy, ethical, values and justice and
jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law.[5] 

And for the AU:

concerned about the
negative effects of corruption and impunity on the political, economic, social
and cultural stability of African States and its devastating effects on the
economic and social development of the African peoples; Acknowledging that
corruption undermines accountability and transparency in the management of
public affairs as well as  socio-economic development on the continent […][6]

Chapter IV, article 43 (1), (2) of UN convention
against corruption addresses the need of international cooperation, in which it
stresses:

States Parties shall
cooperate in criminal matters in accordance with articles 44 to 50 of this
Convention. Where appropriate and consistent with their domestic legal system,
States Parties shall consider assisting each other in investigations of and
proceedings in civil and administrative matters relating to corruption.

and:

In matters of
international cooperation, whenever dual criminality is considered a requirement,
it shall be deemed fulfilled irrespective of whether the laws of the requested
State Party place the offence within the same category of offence or denominate
the offence by the same terminology as the requesting State Party, if the
conduct underlying the offence for which assistance is sought is a criminal
offence under the laws of both States Parties. 

Also, article 19(3), (5) of
Africa Union Convention against corruption (2003) stresses the:

encouragement of all
countries to take legislative measures to prevent corrupt public officials from
enjoying ill-acquired assets by freezing their foreign accounts and
facilitating the repatriation of stolen or illegally acquired monies to the
countries of origin. International cooperates in conformity with relevant
international instruments on international cooperation on criminal matters for purposes
of investigations and procedures in offences within the jurisdiction of this
convention.

La
international community reveals corruption scandals in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya
following revolution movements

Following the revolutionary movements in Tunisia,
Egypt and Libya, we witnessed the international community revealing corruption scandals
and freezing of assets (funds) illicitly enriched by the corrupt leadership
from these countries. The question is: will these leaders face prosecution for
their crimes – particularly Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, and Muammar Gaddhafi. Where
are the international instruments on criminal matters including corruption?

The United States has announced that it is trying to
release some of the more than $30 billion in assets seized from Libya’s leader,
Muammar Gadhafi, and give the money directly to the Libyan rebels.[7] Several
European nations are also seeking to release funds, including Britain, France
and Italy, which announced to release euro350 million ($505 million) for the rebels.[8] The daily
mail reports that US has frozen $30 billion, Canada $2.4 billion, Austria $1.5 billion,
and UK $1billion.[9]
The U.S, The United Nations and South Africa reached a deal that will allow the
release of $1.5billion in frozen assets in American banks.[10] Unconfirmed
Austrian
media reports have said that the Gaddafis and their close allies may have
stashed $30 billion in the country.[11]

According to AFP reports, groups including Sherpa,
Transparency International France, and the Arab Commission for Human Rights all
accuse Mr. Ben Ali of corruption, misusing public funds and money-laundering.
They estimate the wealth amassed by the former leader and his entourage at $5bn
(£3bn).[12]

The former Egyptian president is accused of amassing
as much as $64 billion during his 30 years in power. It is believed his wealth
was tied up in foreign banks, investments, bullion and properties in London,
New York, Paris, and Beverly Hills.[13]

Have the United Nations and the
African Union conventions on preventing and combating corruption succeeded in
reducing corruption among high ranking political leaders?

In
2004, Transparency International (TI) published a “list of shame” of high
ranking corrupt head of States – at about the same time as the two international
instruments were put in place for curbing corruption: the United Nations
convention against corruption (2005) and the African Union convention against
corruption (2003).

Since
then, however, the rate of corruption among high ranking political leaders has
actually increased to more shocking levels. This is an indicator of weak
commitment to international community, and of many flaws in the international
instruments. For instance, Hosni Mubarak is accused of amassing $64billion, a
figure which is bigger than the total amount of funds/assets accused to the
first ten corrupt head of States from the list of shame named by Transparency
International (TI) in 2004. The figures are also alarming for Muammar Gaddafi
($35billion) and Ben Ali ($5billion). If this is any indication, who knows how
much illicit enrichment we should expect from other African Political Leaders
who are in power, and those who have been retired?

Most
of the names on the list of shame were protected by Western governments, which
turned a blind eye in exchange for support during the Cold War.[14] Bribery of
local officials by Western businesses is still widespread, despite global
initiatives to stamp it out. Companies from Australia, Sweden, Switzerland,
Austria, and Canada topped Transparency International’s list of bribe-payers. Western
multinationals must take responsibility for allowing corruption to flourish, Transparency
International said.[15]
In most cases, the corrupt heads of States in developing countries are not
prosecuted due to the questionable independence of their jurisprudence, and
citizens are left horrified by the actions of their governments.

Global peace and security: corruption in
revolutionary movements

Despite the presence of
international instruments against corruption, the tendency of high
ranking political leaders to steal public funds has increased.  A corrupt head
of State is worse than a person who commits murder — even organized, politically motivated murder. They
differ in the model of killing, one is a silent killer while the other is
exercising overt killing. For corruption, national resources are shifted
illicitly to offshore countries. Corruption segregates people. Corruption erodes
national credibility and integrity. Corruption distorts national stability and
security. It propagates a sense of injustice. This is depicted in revolutionary
movements in Tunisia, Libya and Tunisia. The gap between the poor and the rich
were obvious. The poor suffered from the quencequence of rampant corruption.
People were unable to access employment, education, health services, and food. People
were demanding sustainable development, democracy, socio-economic justice, and
employment for the young generation.

Conclusion: the prosecution of corruption

The revolutionary
movements in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have demontrated that the corruption of
Heads of State is directly related to poverty and injustice. The existing
international instruments designed to curb such corruption are obviously not
working.  Hence, I appeal to international community to prosecute corruption as
a serious crime against humanity in the International Criminal Court (ICC). To begin
with, corruption leads to several of the offences mentioned on the Article 7(1)
of crime against humanity, and war crime (Article 8) of the Rome Statute of International
Criminal Court.[16]
In this sense, prosecuting corruption as a serious crime against humanity means
to solve many of the underlying root causes leading to crime against humanity
and war crime. Furthermore, Article 7(1) states that a “crime against humanity”
can refer to “other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing
great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.” Until
corruption is effectively oulawed by the international community, it will
continue to cause great suffering to citizens living under corrupt governments
the world over.

 

Bio: The author
is a student (MA) at the department of International Law and Human Rights at
the United Nations mandated University (UPEACE), Costa Rica. E-mail address:
chachakichere@yahoo.com